THIS JUST IN! PELOSI TAKES DEMOCRACY OFF THE TABLE!

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIX MIX -- DC.

 

"WE JUST WANT OUR RECESS!" WHINED HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI STOMPING HER FEET AS SHE EXPLAINED WHY THE HOUSE JOINED THE SENATE IN EXPANDING THE BULLY BOY OF THE UNITED STATES ABILITIES TO SPY ON AMERICAN CITIZENS.

 

WHEN ASKED BY THESE REPORTERS EXACTLY WHEN DEMOCRATS WERE GOING TO STAND UP, PELOSI SAT DOWN, STOOD, SAT DOWN AGAIN, STOOD AGAIN.

 

"SEE," SHE SAID, "I KNOW HOW TO STAND."

 

AS TO STANDING UP FOR THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE OR THE CONSTITUTION, PELOSI EXPLAINED SHE WAS TOO TIRED FOR THAT.

 

"YOU MIGHT SAY," SHE LAUGHED, "I'M TAKING DEMOCRACY OFF THE TABLE!"

 

 

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

 

 

Starting with war resistance.  Cindy Chan (Epoch Times) reports on the creation of the War Resisters Support Campaign "launched shortly after an American deserter from the Iraq War named Jeremy Hinzman arrived in Canada seeking asylum that January" in 2004 and how it was quickly realized that both a legal and a political effort would be needed and that's certainly true with both war resisters Hinzman and Brandon Hughey's case now being appealed to Canada's Supreme Court following the Federal Court of Appeal's decision that "rights of conscience" could be applied to "a refugee claimant [who] is a high-level policy-maker or planner of the military conflict" but not "a mere foot soldier".  So apparently Henry Kissinger, for instance, could get refugee status for his war crimes in Canada but Canada will not give asylum to war resisters.  As Chan notes, that was not always the case.  During Vietnam, the Canadian government stood up but that's when they had a prime minister who wasn't a lackey of the United States.  Chan notes that Hughey and  Hinzman are expected to hear this month or next whether the Supreme Court will hear their case.      

Just as during Vietnam, war resistance is on the rise.  "I think something similar is beginning to happen now because those same unities coming together to oppose the war say, 'No, we're not going to continue fighting in this war.'  We have the organization I belong to, Iraq Veterans Against the War, we have up to  500 members, the majority of whom have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and who are saying, 'No, we're not going to continue to fighting this war.' And you know by the Pentagon's own estimates we have since the war started  8 to 10,000 troops who have decided not to go back to  the war. To put it in perspective, that's a division size element that's been wiped by desertion and AWOL," explains war resister and CO Camilo Mejia on this week's Progressive Radio, Matthew Rothschild interviewed  Mejia who has told his story in the recently released Road from Ar Ramaid: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejia (The New Press).      

Matthew Rothschild: Did you get a lot of negative feedback from either people who saw you on the media or from soldiers or former soldiers?       

Camilo Mejia: Definitely there was some negative feedback but by and large the feedback was very positive partiicularly when it came from the members of the military.  People in the army, or in the armed services, don't really feel that they have the right to go public with their views and opinions . . . but secretly in a more private way a lot of people came up to me and said they agreed with me although they didn't feel they could do so publicy.  The feedback was very positive.      

Mejia described the things he saw at the POW camps for Iraqis and Rothschild asked if he realized then that the Geneva Conventions were being violated?  Mejia replied that he didn't realize it at that point, "It just felt wrong."  Mejia explained that the events "on a daily basis" in Iraq didn't allow him much time for reflection but he had that time while he was on leave back in the US.  He and Rothschild discussed the bond (socialization) within the military and how that can effect choices made.  Mejia stated the people need to "realize that there's a greater tragedy in Iraq . . . The people of Iraq, 90% of the people who are dying are civilians, you know children, unarmed men, women, the elderly, the entire life being destroyed, the infrastructure is being destroyed so we have got to step outside our own fears and our own interests and our own feelings to look at the bigger picture and realize that saying that we're fighting for one another is no reason enough for participating in this criminal war."        

 

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Zamesha Dominique, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Joshua Key, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty-one US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.        

 

Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. IVAW and others will be joining Veterans For Peace's conference in St. Louis, Missouri August 15th to 19th.          

 

Mejia was interviewed on Monday on WBAI's Law and Disorder as was  Adam Kokesh spoke with hosts Dalia Hashad, Michael Ratner and Michael Smith (Heidi Boghosian, the fourth host was not part of this broadcast, but we'll cover Boghosian in a moment).  Kokesh is a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War and he discussed the military brass' efforts to suppress his freedom of his speech.  Kokesh wore his fatigues (without markings or name tags) in Operation First Casualty in DC (and elsewhere but DC was the one that led to retaliation) which is street theater meant to convey for Americans what life is like for Iraqis during the illegal war.             

"The media stories that  we've read haven't captured this accurately," Dalia Hashad noted.  Kokesh explained that, after the DC action, he got an e-mail which he didn't know what to make of -- was it for real? -- and he discussed it with Tina Richards (Grassroots of America) who explained that her son Cloy Richards had received similar e-mails from people in (or claiming to be) the military and out of it.  So Kokesh replied to the e-mail and the brass response was "which is completely unprecedented" because he had already been honorably discharged by the military and placed in the IRR Kokesh described it as a kick in the stomach and a surprise, "They can't do this, legally there's no grounds for this.  You know it says Article II of the UCMJ  it doesn't apply to the IRR it says in my enlistment contract".  Dalia Hashad asked to explain about the IRR and Kokesh offered that "when you're in the IRR you're only responsibilites are to maintain  a valid address and to show up if called back to active duty."       

Michael Smith asked about wearing "a uniform" in street theater?  Kokesh explained that a JAG attorney was activated from the reserves, Jeremy Sibert, for the prosecution team.  Sibert is the Criminal Division Assistant US Attorney in the Del Rio Office [Texas} for the Department of Justice.  Attorney Mike Lebowitz spoke on the program as well and (as requested by Eddie) we'll one more time go over that what Adam Kokesh and others do in street theater is not an issue the military has any say in.  Daniel Jay Schacht took part in street theater during Vietnam.  He and others staged it outside a military recruitment center.  At that point in time, the military thought they had rights that they didn't.  Schacht was arrested for wearing a military uniform in the production.  The military's reasoning was that it gave the armed forces a bad name -- the play, the performance, whatever.  At that point, the military would allow or disallow theater productions the 'right' to utilize uniforms or not.  In 1970, Schacht v. United States was heard by the Supreme Court.  The Court found in Schacht's favor noting that the military had been granting permission to some.  By denying permission to others, this was now a free speech issue.  The US military, the Court determined, had no say in theater productions -- if some could use the uniforms, all could.  The military had no say over what Schacht or anyone said in a theater production when they wore a uniform and they had no say over whether the uniform could be worn.   This was true of all productions, including street theater.  Justice Hugo Black wrote:

Certainly theatrical productions need not always be performed in buildings or even on a defined area such as a conventional stage. Nor need they be performed by professional actors or be heavily financed or elaborately produced. Since time immemorial, outdoor theatrical performances, often performed by amateurs, have played an important part in the entertainment and the education of the people of the world.        

Kokesh is appealing and, due to the Supreme Court's 1970 verdict, it should be an easy win; however, Schacht v. United States should have ensured that the matter never went as far as did. 

"The idea that citizens are free to dissent is ingrained in the American mythos, a concept even older than the Declaration of Independence itself.  Equally important in this value system is the conviction that no nation state can survive as a democracy unless it safeguards political expression and activity," so writes Heidi Boghosian in Punishing Protest.  And yet, Kevin Egler has a pre-trial date August 9th in the Portage County Municipal Court in Kent, Ohio.  His crime, as David O'Brien (The Record Courier via Common Dreams) explains, placing an "IMPEACH" sign on public party.  And yet, Matthew Rothschild (The Progressive) reported last month on the White House's policy of keeping people out of tax payer events -- something clearly taking place throughout the 2004 campaign but the White House put it in writing.  In the United States, the Los Angeles Times reports a record $1 million settlement by the District of Columbia due to the police round ups of demonstrators against the illegal war in 2002.  Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!)  notes that the monies will go "to more than one hundred demonstrators" and that "D.C. previously agreed to pay more than $640,000 to fourteen other demonstrators.  A larger class-action suit covering more than four hundred people awaits trial."  The money involved in the DC payout may seem great but does it really cover the cost of violating people's First Amendment rights?   And many other attacks on free speech and the right to assembly go under the radar.  The National Lawyers Guild has just released Punishing Protest written by Heidi Boghosian (available online in PDF format for free and avaible in book format for $3 at the National Lawyers Guild website).

 

 

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"THIS JUST IN! 'RECESS!' CRIES THE D.C. TODDLERS!"
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THIS JUST IN! 'RECESS!' CRIES THE D.C. TODDLERS!

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIX MIX -- DC.

 

"I'M GOING TO PLAY TAG!" HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI EXCITEDLY TOLD THESE REPORTERS.

 

"I'M GOING TO PRACTICE WITH MY JUMP ROPE!" ENTHUSED HOUSE REP. JOHN CONYERS.

 

"I'M GOING TO STAY INSIDE AND WATCH TV AND EAT AND EAT AND EAT!" GIGGLED NEVER IN CHARGE STENY HOYER.

 

AS CONGRESSIONAL SPOUSES RUSHED TO PACK JUCIE BOXES AND PLAN FIELD TRIPS, THE REALITY WAS CLEAR IN D.C. TODAY, TOMORROW CONGRESS BEGINS IT'S "RECESS."

 

UNLIKE ANY KNOWN PRE-K OR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RECESS, THIS ONE WILL LAST A MONTH, CONCLUDING ON SEPTEMBER 4TH.  DURING THAT TIME THE ILLEGAL WAR WILL DRAG ON AND PEOPLE WILL CONTINUE DYING.  BUT STENY HOYER JUST WANTED US TO KNOW HE'S GOT A NEW PAIR OF SCOOBY DOO UNDER-ROOS AND SOMETIMES HE WONDERS WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE TO "BE A BIG BOY.  YOU KNOW, TAKE THE TRAINING WHEELS OFF MY BIKE?"

 

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

 

Starting with the talking point that imploded.  By making July about the slow trickle in announcements, the US military repeatedly misled on the number of US service members dying.  The press didn't want to call it out.  They'd pretend multiple deaths on a Sunday being announced on a Thursday was perfectly normal (and in their print editions this morning, include a late announcement but refer to it as taking place "Tuesday" and not in "July" which is the height of dishonesty having all run with the "July" "count" the day prior). A week ago, what was already noticeable was underscored when Lt. Gen Raymond T. Odierno was selling to the press that after April, May and June all saw US troop fatalities climb past 100 each month, the figures were down for July (he ignored the reality that the air war had been beefed up -- a time tested manner for the US to reduce deaths somewhat) and even though the slow trickle of announcements was known, everyone played dumb in their reports and ran with the talking point despite the fact that hours after Odierno's Thursday spin the US military would announce 7 more deaths with none of them taking place that day -- all "backlogged" and on the slow trickle.  The US miiltary was back to the old tricks used in 2003 and 2004 and for much of 2005: hold off on death announcements in light of the first day of the month when outlets would run with their "looking back on the month" pieces.  They dropped that stunt  in 2005 in part because they were caught doing it once too often but also because many outlets were already bored with the illegal war and no longer interested in filing the obligatory monthly piece.  Odierno puts the US military's official stamp on the talking point and suddenly all the outlets are back to doing monthly pieces and all are stressing on August 1st that July deaths were down, that July deaths were the lowest of the year.  Some went with 72, some went with 74.  The count was incomplete (as would be demonstrated throughout that day) but qualifiers were in short supply.  The lowest number of deaths for 2007! was the talking point and all ran with it.  July 2007 was also the deadliest July of the illegal war for US service members (and for Iraqis the death rate tripled) but it was sell-sell-sell that this was some 'good news'.  One of the few exceptions was Stephen Farrell (New York Times) who did note a qualifier in a piece that ran on the morning of August 1st:

"Estimates of the death toll varied, but Iraq Coalition Casualty Count put the July total so far at 74, down from 101 in June and the lowest number since November 2006. Some casualties in late July may be reported after the beginning of August, so the count is not yet definitive for the month."   But even Farrell forgot to consider past Julys when touting the 'progress' that wasn't really there.  Today, ICCC reports that the number for US service members' announced deaths in July has risen to 81.Those who are confused can check out ICCC's period details but, remember, you were supposed to be confused.  That was the point of the slow trickle of announcements.  (In the period details, you can also note that all but four announced deaths -- there may be more coming -- for July have already had their names announced by the Defense Department.)  81, for those who've forgotten or never paid attention, is the number of announced deaths in February and March.  July, despite the burst of press enthusiasm and stupidty, was not the lowest of the month of the year for US fatalities nor was it the lowest since 2006 (November of 2006 saw 70 deaths announced).  Who will run the corrections?  Reporters aren't responsible for writing headlines; however, the headlines have all been seen by readers yesterday proclaiming that July was 'good news' or, as the New York Times worded it, "U.S. Death Toll In Iraq in July Expected to Be Lowest in '07."  By whom was never said but only a fool "expected" that to happen and only the fools are attempting to cover themselves now in embarrassment because JULY IS NOT THE LOWEST IN '07.

 

The talking point has imploded but we'll all supposed to pretend otherwise.It was nothing but another wave of Operation Happy Talk in the same way that a nothing soccer match was repeatedly treated as some sort of sign of 'progress' in an illegal war with many alleged reporters writing allegedly of Iraqi response but focusing only on the men (who ripped their shirts off, fired their guns in the air and generally must have given the boys in the press a heady dose of homo-eroticism to sniff). A better indicator was Oxfam's "Rising to the Humanitarian Challenge in Iraq," released this week, but it addressed reality and didn't jibe with the latest waves of Operation Happy Talk so it was largely ignored.

 

While the boys of the press beat themselves excitedly in frenzy over some Iraqi males shirtless, Oxfam provided less of a sexual high as they noted, "Forty-three per cent of Iraqis suffer from 'absolute poverty'. According to some estimates, over half the population are now without work. Children are hit the hardest by the decline in living standards. Child malnutrition rates have risen from 19 per cent before the US-led invasion in 2003 to 28 per cent now." Hard to get your jollies on that so the press elected to under report or ignore the realities of what the illegal war had really brought.

 

Throught the reporters of Jock Boy High's jock boy high, bombs were exploding and mass fatalities were taking place, but that fact was more or less ignored in the push for: "It's soccer!"  Today CBS and AP note that "at least" 142 Iraqis died yesterday but look through this morning's paper to find that headline.  You won't because when it's time to sell-sell-sell the illegal war again, realities have to drop out of the picture.  In this case, 142 Iraqis dying is judged unimportant.  For the New York Times, the big news, the front page piece, is Mark Mazzetti pondering fantasy at length in the latest push to sell the illegal war. Elisabeth Bumiller's "White House Letters" had nothing on Mazzetti (and her "letters" didn't run on the front page).   Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) points out the ugly reality: "The death toll from the car bombings was the highest for Baghdad since February, when the United States began increasing the number of troops in the capital in an effort to cut violence."  No change in US military deaths, no change in Iraqi deaths.  The realities of the Bully Boy's escalation which he initiated over the strong objections of the US public and over the 'symbolic' rejection of the Democratically controlled US Congress. Despite these realities, CBS and AP report that the administration is claiming "security is improving".

 

 

Repeating, the announced deaths for July thus far have now reached 81 making it not the lowest of the year nor the lowest since 2006.  Do not expect to see any outlets run corrections to their earlier (false) coverage. As Aimee Allison and David Solnit point out in their book Army Of None, "Corporate media's steady stream of lies, distortions, and repetition of the United States government 'war on terror' rhetoric was essential in propagating the pretense for the invasion of Iraq and is key to maintaining some level of public support for the war and occupation" (p. 155).

 

Turning to war resistance, David Zieger (director of the amazing Sir! No Sir!) observes of an earlier illegal war, "Like the Vietnam War itself, the GI Antiwar Movement started small and within a few years had exploded into a force that altered history.  And like the times from which it grew, the movement involved organized actions and spontaneous resistance, political groups and cultural upheaval.  Between 1966 and 1975, groups of soldiers -- some small and some numbering in the thousands -- emerged to challenge the war and racism in the military.  Group action and individual defiance, from the 500,000 GIs who deserted over the course of the war to the untold numbers who wore peace signes, defied military discipline and avoided combat, created a 'F**k the Army" counter culture that threatened the entire military culture of the time and changed the course of the war."  That also can be found in Allison and Solnit's Army Of None (p. 146), the new book published by Seven Stories Press and available for purchase ($14.95) at Courage to Resist.  Though little attention has been given to the matter, Eli Israel recently became the first service member to publicly refuse to serve in the illegal war while stationed in Iraq. Little attention has also been given to the military's investigative team that locates self-checkouts (or tries) and then tips off the police after their hours of surfing the net and, in one instance, crawling through MySpace pages.  Despite the fact that the US military crossed the Canadian border and posed as Canadian police while attempting to shake down Canadian citizen Winnie Ng at her home in their attempts to locate war resister Joshua Key, little attention has been given to that either or the US military ordering the arrest of Kyle Snyder, by Canadian police, on his wedding day.  It was a way to screw with Snyder (charges had to be dropped and Snyder released because it's not a crime in Canada to resist the US military) and a way to postpone the wedding, even for a few days, because Snyder would be marrying a Canadian citizen (and he did) putting him out of the reach of any efforts to deport him or refuse him citizenship in Canada.

 

In a really bad but overly praised recent article in The Nation, the magazine continued their long standing practice of ignoring war resisters (and added censorship to their list of tools by annoucing, in the article, that the magazine was in possession of "dozens" of photos of abuses but the magazine refused to print any).  They could speak to members of a centrist organization, they could speak to members of a White House front committee and readers were supposed to be thrilled that at least a few members of Iraq Veterans Against the War  got included.  Or that Camilo Mejia was included.  The term "war resister" wasn't applied to Mejia, despite the fact that he freely uses it; however, the magazine could label him a deserter.  Someone save us from the faux left and those who fancy themselves 'celebrities' as opposed to journalistic editors and publishers.  As Mejia himself explained on  WBAI's Law and Disorder this week, "Let me start by saying that when I allegedly went AWOL, I didn't really go AWOL because when we received orders to go to Iraq I had pretty much come to the end of my eight year service. So what happened was that I was extended from the year 2003 to the year 2031 by this thing that they called 'stop loss'."  It's an important point -- and was to US Senator Bill Nelson when Mejia was in Iraq and his contract was ending -- but one lost on The Nation.

 

Also lost to The Nation was the War Resisters Support Campaign which the magazine's overly praised article pointedly ignored.  The War Resisters Support Campaign is a Canadian organization helping and raising awareness of war resisters who go to Canada.  Meet Christian Kjar (who was wrongly billed as "Christian Care" by many -- including myself, my apologies).  War Resisters Support Campaign informs, "Christian Kjar, 21, is originally from California. Christian joined the US Marine Corps in 2004. It was not long before he found that, despite the motto of 'Honour, courage, commitment' posted on the recruiting office wall 'this was not the place to go if you value human dignity.'  While posted in North Carolina Christian decided he could not participate in the Iraq war. He arrived in Canada in October 2005, and currently lives in Toronto."  Canadian Mennonite reported that the Santa Barbara raised Kjar

began questioning his decision to enlist in boot camp quoting Kjar stating, "I knew it was stupid and foolish and wrong. This was not the place to go if you value human dignity. Instead, it was an extremely violent atmosphere where they train you to change a human being into an object by using phrases like 'communist bastards' and singing about stamping on Iraqi children. It's very difficult to go against the grain in that setting because it's a group thing. So I kept trying to reassure myself that I could be a warrior. But I couldn't let go of the fact that the intent was taking the life of a living breathing human being. When I was posted to Cherry Point [a Marine Corps base in North Carolina, in preparation for deployment to Iraq], it was eating me inside that I couldn't express how I felt to others. Prayer and meditation were very important to me at that time. During a four-day grace period [before deployment], I had time to really reflect and come to grips with what my conscience was telling me. One day I opened the Bible at Deuteronomy 5 and read, 'Thou shalt not kill.'

'After that I was honest with myself. I now knew what I didn't want to be. Also, the just war thing didn't work for me…. I knew there is no justice to be complicit in the suffering of people of differing faiths and origins, and was convinced that the U.S. government has failed utterly and miserably in preserving the dignity of human life in Iraq, where thousands of people have died."  Irene Kuan (The Eyeopener) reported that after learning of the War Resisters Support Campaign and speaking with attorney Jeffrey House, Kjar began the trip to Canada via Buffalo after saying goodbye to his girlfriend who remained in the military.  Audio and video of Kjar speaking can be found here.

 

War resister Agustin Aguayo, like Mejia and many others, attempted to get CO status but was repeatedly (and wrongly) denied (even in civilian courts) and he's now speaking out about his experiences in Iraq, his court-martial and more.  Joan Trossman Bien (Ventura County Reporter) covers a speaking engagement from last week where Aguayo discussed his introduction to military life in Iraq via a speech delivered upon arrival, "They said to us, if you guys think as medics that you have to follow the Geneva Conventions, you're very wrong, This is Iraq. This is the real thing."  And people wonder how Abu Ghraib or the gang-rape and muder of Abeer happens?  Aguayo reflected, "It was so sad. We would harass civilians for no reason, cursing at teenagers for no reason, taking stuff from Iraqi homes for no reason. We have found the most immoral thing that could possibly be done to these people who have done nothing to us. So the message then is, these people are not like us. It's OK to hurt them."  

 

 

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Zamesha Dominique, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Joshua Key, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty-one US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.

Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters.

 

In Iraq, the US installed puppet government is falling apart.  US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates tries to go philosophical and spread the blame beyond the US by declaring, as AP reported, "In some ways we probably all underestimated the depth of the mistrust and how difficult it would be for these guys to come together on legislation. The kinds of legislation they're talking about will establish the framework of Iraq for the future so it's almost like our constitutional convention ... And the difficulty in coming to grips with those, we may all have underestimated six or eight months ago."  As for the puppet of the occupation, Nouri al-Maliki, Stephen Farrell (New York Times) notes  he has "reacted cautiously to the Sunni walkout".  The walkout, noted yesterday, refers to the Sunni Accordance Front's decision to leave the posts of Deputy Prime Minister and the heads of five ministry.  Megan Greenwell (Washington Post) observed it was "the latest indication of growing Sunni frustration with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.  Ned Parker (Los Angeles Times) reported, on the withdrawal,
"The pullout reduces Iraq's Shiite-dominated government to little more than caretaker status. Barring a major political realignment, it also makes it less likely that Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's regime will be able to reach significant compromises on legislative benchmarks sought by the Bush administration to help quell sectarian strife. Tawafiq member Tariq Hashimi retains his post as one of Iraq's vice presidents.The bloc's pullout cast the gravest challenge yet to Maliki's tenure as prime minister. His government has been burdened for months by talk of conspiracies, most prominently featuring former interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi."  Some of the conspiracy talk has come repeatedly from al-Maliki who, while under siege by his puppet masters, probably shouldn't have regularly held press conferences where he declared every plot (real and imagined) he has detected to oust him.  Parker notes that along with former CIA asset Allawi, Ibrahim Jafari and Adel Abdul Mehdi are also being mentioned as potential replacements (both are Shi'ite) and that "At least one plan for an alternative government to Maliki's has been submitted to the U.S. Embassy by Iraqi political leaders."  Nancy A. Youssef (McClathy Newspapers) reports six may be about to become seven as Tariq al Hashemi, Iraq's Sunni vice president, has informed "he also is on the verge of resigning" and that he's already informed Ryan Crocker, US Ambassador to Iraq, of that possibility.  Speaking of a possible resignation, al Hashemi explained, "We need these major political moves to tell everybody that what is happening is in no way tolerable. Nobody on earth or in Iraq is happy with the performance of the government."  Nor is it in any way a legitimate government.  CBS and AP do a head count and not that "only two Sunnis in the 40-member Cabinet" are left.

 

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"THIS JUST IN! OBAMA MEANS "HE SPEAKS WITH BOMBS"!"

 

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THIS JUST IN! OBAMA MEANS "HE SPEAKS WITH BOMBS"!

 BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIX MIX -- DC.

 

STILL SMARTING FROM CRITICISM LAST WEEK OVER HIS YOUTUBE DEBACLE  WHERE HE PROVED ENOUGH NOT SEASONED ENOUGH TO RUN SUCCESSFULLY FOR PRESIDENT BY AGREEING, IF ELECTED, HE WOULD MEET WITH VARIOUS COUNTRIES INCLUDING NORTH KOREA "WITHOUT PRECONDITION," SENATOR AND PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE FAILURE AT THIS POINT BARACK OBAMA ATTEMPTED TO CLARIFY HIS REMARKS YET AGAIN.

 

TODAY HE EXPLAINED THAT HE WAS READY AND WILLING TO BOMB THE HELL OUT OF PAKISTAN IN A SPEECH WHERE HE SPOKE OF HAVING THINGS "ON OUR TERMS".  EXPLAINED ONE FLEEING CAMPAIGN STAFFER, "HE'S GONE STARK RAVING MAD!"

 

OBAMA ALSO AGAIN BROUGHT UP THE 2002 RESOLUTION THAT THE BULLY BOY USES AS HIS JUSTIFICATION FOR ILLEGAL WAR AND SLIMED FELLOW PRESIDENTIAL PROSPECTIVES JOHN EDWARDS AND HILLARY CLINTON.  HE CALLED IT "A BLANK CHECK" BUT, WHEN QUESTIONED BY THESE REPORTERS ABOUT HIS OWN VOTING RECORD SINCE JOINING THE SENATE IN 2005 AND HOW UNTIL THIS SUMMER HE VOTED FOR EVERY AUTHORIZATION BILL, OBAMA GREW PETULANT, WHINED HE WAS ONCE PRESIDENT OF THE HARVARD LAW REVIEW AND HOW THAT WAS GOOD ENOUGH FOR LAW PROFESSOR AND STAND UP COMIC PATTI WILLIAMS AND THEN PROPOSED A LAP DANCE.

 

THESE REPORTERS DECLINED THE OFFER AND SUGGESTED THAT IF HE IS GOING TO CONTINUE TALK ABOUT HOW HE THINKS THE 2002 VOTE WAS WRONG, HE OWES IT TO VOTERS TO TELL THEM THAT IN 2004 AND 2005 HE WAS OPPOSED TO WITHDRAWAL.

 

"AT WHAT POINT DID YOU DECIDE YOU SUPPORT WITHDRAWAL?" THESE REPORTERS ASKED HIM ONLY TO BE POUNCED UPON BY A KOO KOO KATRINA BIRD THAT FLEW IN FROM ALASKA SCREECHING, "LEAVE HIM BE, HE'S A CENTRIST LIKE ME." 

 

THESE REPORTERS IDENTIFIED THE BIRD AS THE PEACE RESISTER KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL AFTER SHE FLEW OUT THE WINDOW TO MAKE AN EMERGENCY MEETING OF THE COUNCIL FOR FOREIGN RELATIONS.

 

"I HAVE KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL ON MY SIDE," OBAMA STAMMERED TRYING TO SOUND CONVINCING.

 

SADLY FOR OBAMA, THE ONLY THING BOMBING IS HIS PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN.

 

 

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

 

Starting with war resistance.  In June of 2006, Ehren Watada became the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq (after months of working privately with his military superiors, offering to resign, offering to serve in Afghanistan, etc.).  In violation of the Constitution's double-jeopardy clause, he faces a second court-martial  October 9th  following last February's court-martial which ended just as he was about to take the stand in his own defense only to find Judge Toilet (aka John Head) rule a mistrial over defense objection.  The October 9th date is considered iffy at this point by his civilian attorneys due to the appeals process that will address issues such as double-jeopardy and whether or not Judge Toilet should recuse himself.  Thus far those (and other issues) have not been addressed.  (Judge Toilet ruling that his own actions do not violate the Constitution or ruling that he's fit to serve on another court-martial does not make for objective rulings.)  Watada's bravery has inspired many and that's not limited to the military.  Melissa Regennitter (Muscatine Journal) reports on Ashley Casale and Michael Israel's March for Peace which began May 1st in San Francisco and is headed for DC and added a third person, Antonio Kies, on Sunday and a fourth, Isabelle Salmon, on Monday.  Asked why she was joining the march, Isabelle Salmon explained she'd just completed college, wanted to take part in an action to end the illegal war and "I'd have to say inspiration comes from Lt. Watada and my belief in world peace."  And exploring the connections between art and activism, Jen Angel (Boise Weekly) recounts, "This past January I spent a week in a chilly warehouse in Tacoma, Wash., making puppets with 20 other activists to support Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to public refuse deployment to Iraq.  We were creating a play to perform on Feb. 5 at the vigil outside the gates of Fort Lewis, Wash., where his court-martial -- which would end in a mistrial -- was being held.  We spent hours painting, taping, cutting, gluing, eating and talking.  For the characters in our play, we created a 15-foot-tall judge with a sculpted cardboard head and papier-mache hands, jurors and witnesses, and, for our finale, doves and suns to end with a vision of a beautiful future."

Watada and others inspire action with the stories of the courage as does Iraq Veterans Against the War.  On June 19th, when Eli Israel decided he couldn't serve in the illegal war, while stationed in Iraq, the response was swift from the military and equally swift was the response of support he received.  Last week, Courage to Resist filed an update noting, "Last month Army Spc Eleonai 'Eli' Israel, while stationed at Camp Victory in Baghdad with JVB Bravo Company, 1-149 Infantry of the Kentucky Army National Guard announced that he would refuse any combat role in Iraq.  Afterwards, Eli noted 'It would have been a lot "easier" for me to simply keep doing combat missions for a couple more weeks, and be done with things.  Moral convictions are not based on timing or convenience.'  He is scheduled to be released today [July 26th] from the Theater Field Confinement Facility at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait where he served a 30 day sentence.  Eli pleaded guilty to five counts of disobeying orders at a summary court martial.  He expects to receive an Other Than Honorable discharge and to be flown to Mississippi within a couple of weeks.  After he's out, he plans on fighting for a discharge upgrade as the officer who sentenced him ignored his application for discharge as a conscientious objector or take into account his prior service."

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Zamesha Dominique, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Joshua Key, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Care, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty-one US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.

 

Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters.

 
In Iraq today everything was falling apart.  Lebanon's Daily Star reports that today saw the Sunni Accordance Front resigned today which "pushed the government into a new crisis undermining its efforts to reconcile Iraqis and end sectarian strife." Mairam Karouny and Peter Graff (Reuters) identify the withdrawal as being the heads of "the ministers of culture, women, planning, and higher education, and the junior foreign affairs minister" as well as Deputy Prime Minister Salam al-Zobaie.  And, as The Daily Star also reports, there's the issue of the Baghdad bombings.

Now those who live and breathe by their Operation Happy Talk talking points should take a deep breath because that 'turned corner' just got drop kicked out of the narrative.

Several bombs in Baghdad led to mass deaths.  Al Jazeera notes the "fuel tanker rigged with explosives" and BBC describes the bombing near "a popular ice-cream parlour" using a parked car.  AFP says there were 3 "large bombs" in all and notes: "Iraqi forces sealed off the area, as residents and ambulances ferried the dead and dying to city hospitals.  Tens of bodies were taken to Ibn Nafees hospital following the explosion".  CBS and AP note, "An Associated Press reporter at the scene said the explosion ripped a hole one yard deep and one and a half yards wide in the asphalt.  Three minibuses and six cars were damaged by flames and flying debris.  Blood pooled in the street."

Al Jazeera and Reuters figures for the dead are at least 70.  Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) offers more detailed figures noting 20 dead from the parked car bombing near the ice cream shop, 50 dead from the fuel tank bombing and 3 dead from a parked car bombing in Doura (that's the third of the three being reported on by most outlets) and notes 105 were reported wounded from the three bombings.

The numbers will likely rise as the rubble is cleared and bodies are discovered, as some on the wounded list do not pull through.  But it may be a big shock for some Americas buying into the latest waves of Operation Happy Talk.  It's, as Robert Parry (Consortium News) has dubbed it, New Pro-War Propaganda": "No need to wait until September.  It's already obvious how George W. Bush and his still-influential supporters in Washington will sell an open-ended U.S. military occupation of Iraq -- just the way they always have: the war finally has turned the corner and withdrawal now would betray the troops by snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.  At one time, the Iraq story line was how many schoolrooms had been painted or how well the government security forces were doing.  Now there are new silver linings being detected that will justify a positive progress report in September -- and the U.S. news media is again ready to play its credulous part."
.
And hasn't it been glorious?  Sell-sell-sell.  Ignore realities about the US death counts (see below after corpses), ignore reality period. 

Turned corner?  Alexandra Zavis and Ned Parker (Los Angeles Times) report, "The number of Iraqi civilians killed in violenc rose to 1,753 in July.  The toll in June was 1,227.  The number of bodies found in and around Baghdad also climbed in July, to 619, compared with 540 in June."  Lebanon's The Daily Star crunches the figures to note, "New goverment figures also showed civilian deaths in the country rose by a third last month, dealing a further blow to a five-month-old security plan designed to stabilize Baghdad and allow for reconciliation."  A blow?  Yes.  The Daily Star, not a US outlet.  Who knows how the New York Times and others will rush to spin it tomorrow (only their military handlers know for sure?)  But it's a huge blow.  And the escalation which was supposed to bring security for Iraqis?  Deaths rose a third.  Repeating, deaths rose a third.

73 dead from 3 Baghdad bombings and those weren't the only bombings in Baghdad, nor the only violence.

[. . .]

 

 Which we repeat because Big Media largely missed that point.  Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) shared reality this morning, "U.S. commanders meanwhile are touting last month's US death toll as a sign of progress on the ground.  Seventy-seven servicemembers were killed in July, the lowest monthly total since November.  But the July total is also the highest over the five Julys since the U.S. invasion.  The July death toll one year ago was forty-three."

Are there more July deaths to be announced? Last week we saw deaths announced as late as four days later. It happened this week and, in fact, for the month, the standout feature about deaths was how slowly MNF announced them. The July announced deaths is now at 78.  And the press wants to run with the nonsense that this is an improvement?  Are they serving Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno?  Last Thursday, he gave the Operation Happy Talk point that the deaths were "falling" and cited the July totals as good news.  It's not.  Nor is it a sign that the escalation is working.  But notice how many outlets grabbed that talking point and repeated it today. 

[. . .]

 

In other news, the pig who should probably be behind bars is squealing again.  Not booked on The Nation cruise -- indicating that perhaps Katrina vanden Heuvel's fine with promoting his work but doesn't wasn't associate with known pedophiles -- he kicks up his own feces at Truth Dig today.  (Link goes to Truth Dig's main page.  We do not link to that pig.) 

Looking at the comments, you will see people are shocked and outraged by the Pedophile's latest nonsense (sliming Cindy Sheehan, suggesting a National Nazi Program -- that's all his suggestion of 'national service' is, etc.).  Where the shock really should be is with those who have felt the need to promote the Pedophile.  It's a long list of people (and include Sy Hersh who went on a truck and bus tour with him repeatedly).  Whatever analysis the Pig had to offer were of no use after the illegal war started.  (Yes, he's repeatedly stated that the US will go to war with Iran -- in fact, he's offered predictions of specific time frames . . . which have all have passed.  There's your first clue about his 'analytical' abilities.)  As I stated last week, not having promoted a known pedophile, I have no blood of my hands. 


Maybe those leaving outraged comments now wouldn't be shocked by the latest nonsense if they grasped that we are talking about someone who the MSM reported was twice arrested for attempting sexual set ups with underage females?  Maybe if they made sure everyone grasped that when he was asked directly about it on CNN, he refused to discuss it and lied claiming he couldn't because the records were sealed (as the defendant, he could speak in this matter, sealed or unsealed records).  So the MSM washed their hands of him (rightly) and that had nothing to do with Judith Miller, it had to do with the fact that someone twice arrested for attempting sexual relations with underage females -- a CRIME -- isn't someone to shore up or go rushing to.  But small media picked him up, propped him up and acted as though existing reports of the two arrests didn't exist.  Which makes you question their committment to their own audiences?

So the Pedophile wants to explain that Cindy Sheehan's a distraction, David Swanson's a distraction, Hurricane Katrina is a distraction . . . everything's a distraction.  Except himself.  And John Conyers!  Conyers is "one of the strongest antiwar advocates in the U.S. Congress".  Well no wonder the country's in trouble!  John Conyers isn't an advocate for anything these days.  He is hemmed in and allows himself to be hemmed in.  (I don't expect the pedophile to know Congress.  Most members refuse to meet him.)  He gets in the sexist slame that Sheehan lacks "grace".  What does he know about grace?  Or is he confusing grace with the leniancy he was shown in his pedophile busts?



When the pig first took his attacks on Sheehan public, we called it out (over a year ago) and noted that he wants to turn to the peace movement into the military with himself as commander.  In fact, he earned his own special spot in "2006: The Year of Living Dumbly" (he really earned it):

Another low happened when The Nation, Democracy Now! and about every left and 'left' outlet decided to continue to give a platform to the man they portray as a Cassandra but whom the mainstream media has noted was twice arrested in stings to capture sexual predators. As Chrissie Hynde once sang in "How Much Did You Get For Your Soul," "How much did you, How much did you, How much did you get?" He went around the country with Seymour Hersh slamming the peace movement (and wanting to turn it into the military -- presumably with himself as commander), he ridiculed and mocked Cindy Sheehan in an independent weekly, and despite that, despite the mainstream media's reports of two busts for seeking out sex with underage girls online, he was given a platform repeatedly.

He's a moron and disgusting trash.  And he's selling "mandatory national service" like a good little Nazi today much to the shock of many commenting.  They should be more shocked that a KNOWN PEDOPHILE can get away with penning statements about what "legally, morally and structurally binds our nation together" becuase, if the MSM coverage is to be believed, were it not for backdoor deals (that led to some firings), the Pedophile would be behind bars where his CRIMINAL ASS belongs.  The Pedophile calls Cindy Sheehan's actions "self-destructive".  That's rich -- a pedophile wants to speak of destruction.  Reality is that the trash should have been carried to the curb.  Reality is that the MSM did.  It's independent media that's decided a PEDOPHILE is just, apparently, what the world needs now. 

And it's time to start demanding accountability from small media.  I don't tolerate pedophiles, I have no idea why The Nation, Truthdig and others are welcome to give them a 'pass.'  I doubt they'd give the same pass to Mark Folely but the objects of his affection were male.  (And it should be noted, Folely does not appear to have attempted anything with anyone under 18 which means he is not a pedophile.)  With the Pig, apparently Small Media is saying that it's perfectly understandable for those things to happen.  Two busts being reported and the perv refusing to respond to the reports is okay.  It's not okay.

But it allows him to trash Cindy Sheehan yet again.  And laugh as the twice busted pedophile wants to warn Sheehan's about to destroy "whatever vestige of credibility is left to her as a mainstream activist."  This from the Pedophile who has no mainstream outlet because -- unlike Small Media -- MSM was firm in refusing to air the opinions of a Pedophile. 

He's never liked Sheehan  -- though he pretends today he liked the summer 2005 actions when the reality is he was trashing her at the start of 2006 and trashing the same actions he now pretends to like.  Pedophile could never like the Peace Mom.  She is a "mom."  She's a mother.  A wounded mother grieving over her child.  Pedophiles need to divorce their victims from any sort of relations other than objects for the pedophile's perversion.  Mothers are very scary to pedophiles.

He's a pedophile, he's a right-winger and he can't shut up about "anti-war."  He's trashed Cindy Sheehan repeatedly.  Why the left wants to embrace him is anyone's guess.  But we don't embrace pedophiles.  A good question to ask now is why others on the left continue to give him an outlet?  Non Credo's remarks stand out among the ones read to me over the phone.  From the opening of Non Credo's comments: "How dare ____ smear Sheehan as a 'narcissist.'  ____  wants to pose in contrast as the 'manly man'.  It's sexist and crass.  It's ____ who's preening here, in his pretty uniform.  And ___, this idea is nuts.  If Bush had us all in his army, we'd all have to shut up, the way he shuts up anybody now serving, on the excuse of military necessity."

Avoid the Pedophile.  But call him out if you see him around children -- especially girls.

 

 

 

RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"
"Other Items"
"Deadliest July yet for US service members in Iraq"
"movies & a little on alberto & the dems"
"Briefly better"
"Dale Eisman, Elizabeth Edwards"
"Iraq: Wave after wave of Operation Happy Talk"
"Gamma rays altered Ted Stevens' brain "
"THIS JUST IN! STEVENS IS MAD NOW!"
""

---

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THIS JUST IN! STEVENS IS MAD NOW!

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIX MIX -- DC.

THE REALITIES OF WHAT TOOK PLACE YESTERDAY DO NOT YET APPEAR TO HAVE SUNK IN FOR A U.S. SENATOR.

SPEAKING TO THESE REPORTERS TODAY, SENATOR TED STEVENS APPEARED DOWNBEAT AS HE EXPLAINED, "I WAS ALL FOR IT BUT I THOUGHT THEY SAID 'PANTY RAID'."

NO, IT WASN'T A FLASHBACK TO HIS UCLA DAYS.

YESTERDAY, THE F.B.I. RAIDED SENATOR STEVENS HOME. AT ISSUE, WHETHER OR NOT AN ADDITION TO HIS HOME THAT DOUBLED ITS SIZE AND WAS OVERSEEN BY VECO WAS ON THE UP AND UP. VECO IS AN OIL PIPELINE CONSTRUCTION AND SERVICE COMPANY BASED IN ALASKA WHOSE C.E.O. AND VICE PRSIDENT LEFT THEIR POSTS AFTER ENTERING GUILTY PLEAS TO EXTORTION AND BRIBERY.

AS BEST AS THESE REPORTERS CAN DETERMINE, THE VECO CORPORATION HAS NO KNOWN PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE IN EITHER FASHION DESIGN OR HOME REMODELING HOWEVER ONE VELCO EXEC, WHO ASKED NOT TO BE NAMED, SAID HE WAS PRETTY SURE MOST HAD "WATCHED AT LEAST ONE EPISODE OF THIS OLD HOUSE."


STEVENS, WHO NOT ONLY HAS BEEN IN THE U.S. SENATE FOR ALMOST 40 YEARS, HE ALSO HOLDS A LAW DEGREE. PRESUMABLY, HE IS SMART ENOUGH TO GRASP BOTH THAT VELCO IS NOT NORMALLY IN THE HOUSING BUSINESS AND THAT EVEN THE APPEARENCE OF CONFLICT SHOULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED.


TROUBLE SHOULD HAVE BEEN SENSED ON THE HORIZON WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TED STEVENS FOUNDATION, NOT ONLY FOR THE EGOMANIA IN CREATING A FOUNDATION TO GET OUT THE WORD ON YOURSELF, BUT ALSO DUE TO IT'S INABILITY TO REGISTER AND PAY FEES IN A TIMELY MANNER.

WHEN INFORMED THAT CREW WAS CALLING FOR HIM TO STEP DOWN FROM THE APPRORIATIONS COMMITTEE IN LIGHT OF THE F.B.I. RAID, SENATOR STEVENS BEGAN GRUNTING, DECLARING, "YOU ARE MAKING MAD. YOU WON'T LIKE ME WHEN I'M MAD," AND PAINTING HIS FACE GREEN. AS HE BEGAN REMOVING CLOTHING TO PAINT THE REST OF HIS BODY GREEN, THESE REPORTERS EXCUSED OURSELVES.


FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Starting with war resisters. Yesterday on on WBAI's Law and Disorder, Dalia Hashad, Michael Smith and Michael Ratner spoke with war resister Camilo Mejia.

Dalia Hashad : You're one of the very first publicly known conscientious objectors to this Iraq war and I believe the first military soldier who went to Iraq, saw what happened, came back and said I will not go back.

Camilo Mejia: That's right. Let me start by saying that when I allegedly went AWOL, I didn't really go AWOL because when we received orders to go to Iraq I had pretty much come to the end of my eight year service. So what happened was that I was extended from the year 2003 to the year 2031 by this thing that they called "stop loss"

Michael Ratner: (chuckling) Only 28 years more, you mean?

Camilo Mejia: 28 years more.

Dalia Hashad: Is that typical for stop loss to extend for that period of time?

Camilo Mejia: It's typical, it's typical because I mean the likelihood of soldiers actually serving that long beyond their service or their eight-year-service it's very low. But what it does, it just gives the military, you know, a pretty big window to just keep extending people as many times as they need them.

Michael Smith: You know what it reminds me of, Camilo? My grandfather came here from Romania in 1912 and the draft law in Romania, particularly for Jews, in 1912 was fifty years.

Camilo: Wow.

Michael Smith: And he packed up and left. And now they're trying to do the same sort of thing to the country that people fled to.

Camilo Mejia: Right, so yeah, that's happening now. it's pretty common. I don't think anybody's going to actually serve 28 years beyond their contract. But what it does it gives the military the ability to keep extending people two years at a time. When I deployed to Iraq I was just politically opposed to the war
but it was a very detached and selfish opposition because I basically didn't want my life disrupted. And when I actually went to Iraq, and, you know, the first mission that we had there was to just basically torture prisoners -- to keep them awake for periods of 72 hours and, you know, we did that by performing mock executions, putting pistols up to their heads, yelling at them, creating explosion like sounds just to scare them. And from there we moved on to more combat
missions and because of a combination of bad leadership and disregard for the lives of both Iraqi civilians and soldiers we ended up killing a bunch of innocent civilians and, you know, just doing things the opposite way from what we should do.



Mejia tells his story in book form with Road from Ar Ramaid: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejia (The New Press). The interview is wide ranging the section above is selected because it is an aspect that tends to get left out of the coverage. Mejia was a non-US citizen. The US military could not stop loss him, they could not extend his eight year contract. US Senator Bill Nelson had already addressed this, unknown to Mejia who was serving in Iraq at the time, and the military knew they could not extend his eight-year contract. What they attempted to do was to trick him, to try to get him to apply for citizenship and, except for one person, to refuse to tell the truth up the chain. We're also highlighting this section because Dalia Hashad (who obviously read the book) tried to address it with another guest previously and, as Mike (Mikey Likes It!) noted, she was more or less treated as if she was making something up. She was correct (and Mike cites the passage in the book.) There are other sections of this week's Law and Disorder that we'll note as the week goes along and Mike's going to be covering this week's broadcast at his site later in the week.

With war resisters, it is often said that they don't "live up to their contract" and no one bothers note how the only one expected to live up to the "contract" is those at the bottom. This is one of the points addressed in "Where Have All the War Resisters Gone?" (The Third Estate Sunday Review).

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Zamesha Dominique, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Joshua Key, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Care, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty-one US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.



Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters.


Today Democracy Now! broadcast an interview Amy Goodman did with Military Families Speak Out's Kevin and Joyce Lucey about the lawsuit they've brought against the US Veterans Affair Dept. over the death of their son Jeffrey Lucey who, as Goodman explained, "hanged himself after the US military refused to deal with his post-traumatic stress disorder. In May of 2004, Jeffrey's parents had him involuntarily committed to a VA hospital. But the hospital discharged him a few days later. Two weeks later, Kevin Lucey came home to find his son hanging from a hose in the cellar. Lying on his bed were the dog tags of two unarmed Iraqi prisoners Jeffrey had said he was forced to shoot. The Luceys are suing the VA for negligence."

Joyce Lucey explained, "Jeffrey went to Kuwait in the beginning of February of 2003, into Iraq with the initial invasion in March. He returned home to us in July of 2003. And at the beginning, we really saw -- we didn't notice any major difference, although his girlfriend said he was distant when they went away for the weekend to Cape Cod, and he told a friend that he had seen enough sand to last him a lifetime, so he really didn't want to go on the beach. We found out during the fall that he was vomiting on a daily basis. We encouraged him to go to the doctor on that. And they went more for a physical reason, rather than a psychological, and now, looking back, it might have been the PTSD starting. And then he progressed onto Christmas Eve, where he threw the dog tags at his sister and called himself a murderer. From there to nightmares, which I heard him yelling out, and to which he said he was fine, that he was just having a dream that he was caught in an alleyway and they were coming after him. And then Jeffrey went back to college. He had been in college since September, after his return, went back to college in January and was fine until March, when they have their college break. And at that point, he got very depressed, drinking, and couldn't go back to school, even though he didn't actually tell me that. But he would go and come home early and say class had ended early or the professor didn't show up. So I didn't really know he wasn’t attending classes, but he was having panic attacks, and when he finally did say something, he said he just couldn't stay in class. And he was also having a startled response, if somebody would slam a door. So he went to our primary care physician at that point and was put on Prozac and Ativan to see if it could keep him in class. And it just continued on from there, the inability to sleep, the lack of appetite, the social seclusion. "

From the broadcast:


KEVIN LUCEY: Well, I think that the primary reason is that what happened to Jeff should never have happened. Jeff was so afraid to go to the VA, because he was afraid that the military would find out. And it's that stigma issue. And so, therefore, we called anonymously, and we described the symptoms, and they told us that that’s classic PTSD and get him in as soon as possible. And what happened was, Jeff finally did agree to go in, but he delayed it until May 28th, on Friday. And when I was bringing Jeff to them, I really did think that we were bringing him to the arms of the angels, because they were going to save him. They were going to deal with Jeff’s problems. And it took us about six hours to get him committed. They tried to talk him into going in voluntarily, but Jeff refused to. So Jeff was finally committed, and he tried to leave the building, but the nursing staff and the police had to go after him. But they brought him back in. He was there for about three-and-a-half days. He was discharged on June 1st. And what we discovered -- and this was about a year afterwards -- that there was a psychiatrist that saw him upon the admission, and then there was the psychiatrist who saw him at the discharge, but no psychiatrist saw him at all during those two times.

AMY GOODMAN: You mean, during the entire time he was committed, he was not seen by a psychiatrist, except for being admitted and for being released?

KEVIN LUCEY: Correct.

JOYCE LUCEY: And it was two different psychiatrists, so there really was no continuity in the care.

What the two psychiatrists were most likely doing was the initial assement upon entry and the discharge. This isn't treatment. The assesment is just to get a general feel and know what issues need to explore. The final interview is, in Jeffrey Lucey's case, most likely the cover-your-own-ass interview that is actually supposed to ensure that the patient is not a harm to themselves or others. Kevin Lucey goes on to stress that Jeffrey Lucey, while under VA care, spoke of "three ways that he had planned to commit suicide". Joyce Lucey notes this is in "the records" and that's the charts. In the commercial world of medicine, what has happened was that Jeffrey Lucey received no medical treatment. He was babysat. That's not an insult to the staffers. But they chart for a reason and that's not to kill to time. The doctors are supposed to be reviewing the charts. In the for-profit world this would be described as a 'treatment team'. The staffers would be on it in terms of charting. But with Jeffrey Lucey, it appears the only ones treating him were the staffers and, most likely, they were not medically trained. I'm not saying "Bad staffers." I am pointing out that were we speaking of a commercial hospital setting with the exact same circumstances, this lawsuit would be a strong one. (It should be a strong one now but the government has a habit of weaseling out of blame.) In a commercial setting, an excuse might be offered that by admitting on a Friday, no doctor was going to do anything with him over the weekend unless he had an episode. I'm not justifying that but I am noting that Jeffrey Lucey was discharged on a Tuesday (June 1, 2004) and the point there is if the weekend excuse (or 'excuse') was being used, it would mean that treatment started on Monday. No psychiatrist saw Lucey on Monday. The Tuesday interview was the mandated exit interview that had to be done so it could be charted. If this isn't clear -- or the VA's failure -- again, Jeffrey Lucey was committed. He didn't check himself. Jeffrey Lucey was given no treatment at all, he had no medical supervision at all (the entry and exit interviews are not supervision). He was babysat from Friday through Tuesday.

The Luceys explain to Goodman that the days after the release were not good ones. A non-drunk Lucey "totaled the family car on Thursday, June 3rd" and two days later, at his sister's graduation, he was "barely able to walk . . . slurring his words". Again, he goes to the VA and he's not admitted, he won't go inside, the VA sends someone outside to speak to him but it's not a psychiatrist. There are many issues here but, and remember the Luceys are bringing this lawsuit so that no other family has to go what they went through, the one that's a standard and repeating thing with the VA is staffing. Where were the doctors, how many were scheduled, why weren't more scheduled (there clearly was not enough if -- in a five day stay -- Jeffrey Lucey was never assigned a psychiatrist as part of his care) . . . The details may be a bit different (or not) but this story is not uncommon today and it wasn't uncommon during Vietnam. Pretending that these issues are being addressed with the nonsense of a panel is insane. Kevin Lucey speaking during the broadcast:

I think one of the biggest things that got destroyed in my mind was my perception of the American government. I couldn't believe and I can't believe even until today that the government would have never prepared for the soldiers upon their return home. It was more of an afterthought. Even now, even now, even with all the money that they've been investing and all the Blue Star commissions, Blue Ribbon commissions, they aren't really dealing with what they need to deal with. Not one military family, I noticed, was ever appointed to any of the Blue Star commissions. And I thought that that was a horrible slap in all of our faces. So, right now, due to the fact that this administration and due to the fact that past congresses haven't done anything, it's the whole -- the phrase of the government by the people, for the people, by the people -- I think we have to do something.


Last week's panel got a lot of soft press. As Kevin Lucey points out, no one serving on it is from a military family. And, to be honest, that's not even good enough. Veterans will not be served today by someone serving on a panel that can say "I served" or "my husband served" in WWII or any other war. The panel needs to have veterans or their families (ideally both) from this war because they are the ones facing the problems right now and they can be the strongest advocates. Donna Shalala and Bob Dole don't know the first thing about accessing a new medical system as a stranger. It's insane to suggest that these 'names' know the first thing about the issues let alone how to fix them.

We're going to note one other section of the broadcast and we'll have less of the day's news but (a) there's not a whole lot on any given day to begin with (not when journalists are confined in the Green Zone) and (b) this is a story that is going on for other families and will continue to go on until it's addressed. It usually isn't addressed, in any US war. It's usually swept aside and ignored or you get a nonsense committee like the one Shalala and Dole 'served' on that's not going to fix anything but makes for nice some headlines. So, one more time, from Goodman's interview with the Lucey's:

AMY GOODMAN: Is Jeffrey considered an Iraq war casualty?

JOYCE LUCEY: No. No, he's not. If he had died over in Iraq, yes, he would be. But he came home and took his life here. So he's not a casualty, even though we know he is a casualty of that war.

KEVIN LUCEY: He's unknown, uncounted and unacknowledged by his government or by the nation.

AMY GOODMAN: How do you want him to be acknowledged, his life remembered?

JOYCE LUCEY: I guess I'd like Jeffrey to be known as someone who wanted to help people. When he came back from Iraq, he said that's what he wanted to do now. He wanted to help. So through what we're trying to do, it's like Jeffrey's outreaching to help other people. We're hoping that some good will come out of this lawsuit in the form of better healthcare for the veterans. And that would be something that Jeffrey would be proud of.

KEVIN LUCEY: And we want Jeff's legacy -- and it's not only Jeff. We want to really emphasize that. We have people who have died the same way, T.J. Sweet, Philip Kent, Jason Cooper, and so many others, known and unknown. We want their legacy to be that they have saved others, that through the mistakes that the government had made with them and through mistakes that we also made, that we all have learned and were able to come, especially in this country, with the most effective, the most responsive, viable VA healthcare system that can be afforded and that can be given to our veterans.

If the point is not clear (and it may not be, the story of Jeffrey Lucey makes me very angry), both interviews were required because Lucey did not admit himself. They had nothing to do with treatment. Lucey received no treatment at all. It's as though you or your child had an addiction and, at a treatment center, you got your intake assessment and you got your exit interview but you got nothing else. That's not a slam at the staffers (who are overworked) but Joyce and Kevin Lucey were not expecting that their son would have babysitters, they were (rightly) expecting that, at a medical facility, their son would receive medical care. Jeffrey Lucey received no medical care.


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